Topic: RIAA Says Ripping CD's to Hard Drive = ILLEGAL

[MysterD]

Ummmm....

These days, there's little love left for the Recording Industry Association of America. It's understandable that they'd want to clean up music piracy, but they always seem to approach things in the worst way. Now they say that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music onto hard disk. What?

A Washington Post article says that the music industry is going after collections of music on computers, now calling MP3s made from legally bought CDs "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings. This comes from legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Arizona man who kept a collection of about 2,000 on his computer.

    "I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."

In a different case, Sony BMG's chief of litigation, Jennifer Pariser, said. that "when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." Copying a song you bought is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy,' " she adds.

If the RIAA is really standing behind this, that would mean that the ripped audio on my PS3 and Xbox 360 is illegal, not to mention the music on my PSP and most of the files on my iPod.

Is the RIAA really going to enforce this, or are they just getting desperate.

- - -
Dale North is an associate editor for Destructoid and Japanator, a member of the video game cover band The One-Ups, and wants nothing more out of life than to watch anime on his PS3 and see two fourteen year old Thai boys beat each other to a bloody pulp.

[Cobra951]

Is the RIAA really going to enforce this, or are they just getting desperate.

The reporter does not help the situation by using the word "enforce" in that context.  You can only enforce laws, not private wishes.  This is the private wish of one citizen.  A corporation is considered the same as a person for the purposes of legal action.  The RIAA is one person.  Sony is one person.  They are more powerful than you or I because they have a lot more money for lawyers, but they are not more powerful than, say, Bill Gates, private citizen.

The law is clear when it comes to ripping songs from unencrypted media.  Only circumventing encryption is illegal, and even then, only in countries with laws like the DMCA.  All it takes is enough legal muscle behind the parties being wronged by the big bullies here to set this right.  Even Amazon agrees that ripping your own music CDs is legal.  (I'll try to find the thread I posted on this, but don't hold your breath.  The search function sucks.)

Edit:  (It was easier than I thought.)

[scottws]

This is laughable.  As Cobra said, the DMCA makes it clear that decrypted copies of encrypted, copyrighted works is illegal.  Whatever stupid paper the RIAA is referring to, what about the Supreme Court decision supporting fair use?

[Xessive]

The RIAA can suck my balls. Pardon my french.

[MysterD]

I can understand the RIAA complaining about people distributing music (which is illegal), but this is the biggest stupidity I've ever heard from them.

Hmmm....What's next?

Will the RIAA want everybody to buy the same music songs and album, regardless of its format -- CD, MP3, whatever -- over and over 20 times for all of their home music units? Such as do they want me to go buy the same album all for your home CD player, another one for a car CD/MP3 player, one for your PC, and a different one for your IPod (or whatever portable MP3 Player you use)?

Hmmm...Is the RIAA (claiming that they're) losing that much money again...?

[Cobra951]

I love the argument about losing money.   Can I use that one too?  I used to make good money every year, and now I don't make any.  You're all stealing my salary from me!  Cough it up or I'll sue you.

[beo]

as long as we keep buying music from the major labels, we're funding this behaviour.

cd's are expensive and the artists see pretty much fuck all from it. i'm growing more and more inclined to pirate all my music and just buy t-shirts and tickets to support the bands i like. i can't in good conscience give money to these people when they continue to pull this kind of shit.

[idolminds]

Looks like the story is being reported wrong. Dude was sharing his collection on P2P, which is what hes in trouble for.

[MysterD]

Looks like the story is being reported wrong. Dude was sharing his collection on P2P, which is what hes in trouble for.

Thanks for the update and clarification of thangs, bro.

[Quemaqua]

Note from moderator: if D ever says "thangs" again, please take matters into your own hands and do whatever is necessary, including physical violence, to keep him from repeating it.

[MysterD]

Que, why do you hate me so much, man...? 

[idolminds]

He doesn't hate you. He just loves you with pain.

[Ghandi]

Que, why do you hate me so much, man...? 

He doesn't hate you, its just that everytime someone uses the word "thangs", God destroys a kitten in a terrible way. And Que loves kittens.

[Quemaqua]

These people know me so well.  See, I don't hate you, D.  I just like you less than I like kittens (most people fall into that category, actually).